


Penny Parker - Keeper of Memories

by WritersBlock_Liz



Series: Penny Parker 2020 [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Female Peter Parker, Kamar-Taj (Marvel), Magic, Sorcerers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:42:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26199517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritersBlock_Liz/pseuds/WritersBlock_Liz
Summary: While patrolling around New York, Penny gets more than she bargained for when helping Dr. Strange apprehend a rouge sorcerer. Now with her life in danger und stuck on the other side of the globe, she need the gathered forces of the Kamar Taj to help her out.Warning: Minor Character Death (really minor)
Relationships: Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Stephen Strange, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Penny Parker 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1900864
Comments: 3
Kudos: 50





	Penny Parker - Keeper of Memories

###  Keeper of memories 

With a ‘Whop’ and a cheer Penny sailed through the air.  
She reached her highest point and thrust out her arm, a web shooting from her web-shooter towards the closest building.   
It latched on securely and she released the other web, grabbing onto the new one.   
Her downwards arch began and the familiar feeling of something tingling in the pit of her stomach grew.   
She laughed again, slinging along over the heads of the people below.   
There were a couple of shouts and exclamations, a few cheers and claps as they saw her. She flashed a peace sign before travelling upwards again.   
She twisted her body in the air with inhuman agility and grace.   
There was nothing better than swinging around New York the way she did.   
Once more she was flying upwards, detached from any web, free as a bird.   
It was an exhilarating feeling.   
At the last second, she deployed her webs once more and pulled herself onto the roof of a nearby building.   
She crouched down on the edge of the roof, unbothered by the long drop down.   
Today had been a slow day in regards to patrol. While there were your usual petty thefts and pick-pockets and scammers, they all seemed to be in a summer slump. Maybe the hot temperatures they had been experiencing lately deterred even most criminals, forcing them to decide between staying indoors where there was an AC or going out where it was 100 degrees.   
If it hadn’t been for her suit thermoregulating her, Penny too would be indoors instead of out here in this blazing heat. But as it was, she was fine and enjoying her free time.   
_“Hello Penny.”_ came Karen's voice in her ear.   
“Karen, my favourite AI, what do you have for me?” she asked with a grin.   
_“I am your only AI.”_ Karen replied.   
“It’s a joke Karen. Forget it. What’s up?”   
_“I’m detecting unusual activities at the Sanctum Sanctorum.”_   
Penny perked up. “Dr. Strange?” She asked.   
_“Yes.”_  
“What do we consider unusual when he’s concerned?” she wondered, already making her way to Bleeker Street.   
_“A magic fight in the street and a man with purple skin.”_  
“Now that is strange. Karen, plot the fastest route.”   
.  
When she arrived at the Sanctum the first thing she saw was Dr. Strange himself in full wizard gear, floating high above the ground, orange symbols of power streaking through the air.   
On the ground in front of him was said purple coloured man. Or wizard. He too was throwing spells around like it was money in a rapper’s music video.   
She landed on a lamp-post nearby.   
“Hey Dr. Strange! Need a helping hand?” she shouted.   
The Sorcerer Supreme heard her and turned, looking bewildered.   
“Where did you come from?” he asked.   
“Karen said something about a purple man giving you a hard time. Thought I’d drop by and see what that was all about.” she explained with a shrug. “So, what’s the Oompa Loompas deal?”   
“He tried to steal an artifact from the Sanctorum. I caught him but he won’t give it back. Things escalated.”   
“Where is Wong?” Penny asked, looking around for the other sorcerer who usually stayed at the Sanctum.   
“Getting lunch.” Strange grumbled. “Anyway, I admit I could use a second pair of hands. Think you can distract him long enough for me to secure him?”   
She saluted him. “Aye aye captain.”   
“Wrong Avenger kid. But go on.”   
With a laugh, Penny engaged her web shooters, aiming at the building across from her and swung down towards the crazed sorcerer. He was so caught up in trying to escape all the spells Strange was sending at him from all directions that he didn’t see her coming.   
She crashed into him feet first, knocking him over like he was a bowling-pin and she was the ball.   
He let out a startled yelp and his concentration wavered long enough for Dr. Strang to send in a tendril of magic to snatch him up by the ankle.   
He fought as he was gently lifted into the air, tried to summon a spell for his defence but he must have been too preoccupied by Strange reeling him in like he was a fish on a hook.   
Penny watched him struggle from below, still at the ready to step in should she have too.   
She didn’t mean to catch the small flat stone when it fell from one of the many pockets in the man's robes.   
But she saw it, slowly rolling out of the fold of his cloak, tumbling through the air.   
It was mesmerizing. It shimmered and broke the light as it fell, making it look like it was encased in a dozen little rainbows.   
It seemed to hum. The energy around it was almost visible.   
Her hand reached out on its own accords.   
Faintly she heard Dr. Strange yell something that sounded like “NO!” but it was too late.   
Her right hand closed around the stone and a shockwave exploded outward, sending her, Strange and the crazed sorcerer to the ground.   
She could hear Dr. Strange yell her name but she was too preoccupied by the burning in her hand.   
There was a hole in her glove and when she ripped it off to her horror, she just saw how the last edge of the stone disappeared inside her palm, before the skin closed back up above it.   
All that remained was the vague outline of the stone under her skin.   
And then Strange was by her side, kneeling and taking her hand in his, examining it.   
“Are you alright?” he asked.   
“Yes.” she whispered.   
“Then what were you thinking?” he snapped.  
“I don’t know! It fell, I caught it! Please tell me this isn’t a big deal!” she snapped back.   
He sat to say something but was thrown away by a wave of magic. He went crashing into the side of a building and flopped down to the ground, unmoving.   
“Dr. Strange!” she shouted, jumping to her feet but more magic enveloped her and she couldn’t move.   
The purple sorcerer hat apparently recovered as well and now he was on her.   
Up close he looked even crazier than before.   
His clothes were mismatched, torn and dirty, his hair wild and mattered with who knows what kind of dirt and garbage and he wore oven-mitts over his hands.   
Upon closer inspection his skin wasn't purple as much as it was glowing purple like there was a light source under his skin.   
And it glowed brighter the angrier he became.   
“NO! No, no, no, no! You are unworthy! Give it to me! Give it! It’s mine!”  
Penny fought against the magical restraints.   
“Let me go you lunatic!” she shouted but she almost couldn’t move.   
He flicked his wrists and magical symbols appeared, swirling around like the blade of a saw. Her right hand was forcefully dragged upwards.  
“If I have to cut your hand off, I will! GIVE IT TO ME!”   
He raised his hands, ready to chop off her hand when a red streak came flying out of nowhere and wrapped itself around the man's head.   
It was Dr. Strange’s strange cloak, the alive one! It had left his master and was now securely wrapped around the sorcerer's head.   
His magic binding spell broke and Penny was free.   
She dropped to her knees but was back on her feet a second later, sprinting towards Dr. Strange.   
he too was up, a bit unsteady but he was already forming circles with his right hand around his left and as she approached, a portal opened.   
“Get in!” he shouted at her. She didn’t question him.   
She jumped the last meters, straight through, trusting Strange to not portal them somewhere safe.   
She landed on polished marble floors, lost her footing and slid over the floor, crashing into the bottom of a step.   
“Ow…” she groaned as she pushed herself up.   
She looked up just in time to see Strange close the portal in front of an enraged purple wizard.   
Suddenly it was silent around them.   
A breeze came in from the open folding shutters that lined the walls of the room. It carried incense and other uncommon smells with it.   
Penny looked around more.  
Intricate designs covered the wooden panels on the walls and the columns supporting the roof.   
There were only a few low wooden benches, otherwise the room was empty.   
On one such bench sat a man in light grey robes with a blue trim. He wore glasses, had wispy hair with a very far receding hairline but made up for it with an impressive moustache. He wore glasses and apparently was in the middle of reading a big scroll. Oh, and he only had one hand.   
Behind her, Dr. Strange straightened up, still panting slightly and swaying on the spot.   
“Master Hamir.” he said, blowing slightly to the man, trying to pretend like they didn’t just come jumping in out of nowhere.   
“Good scroll?” Strange asked, wincing slightly but trying hard to keep the grimace of his face.   
The other man didn’t answer. Instead he just raised an eyebrow before turning back to reading his scroll.   
“God, I will never hear the end of this.” Strang muttered.   
Penny giggled but then her gaze was drawn to something past him and she gasped, hurrying over to one of the open shutter-doors. She all but ripped the mask off her face.   
“No way.” she breathed. She turned around to face Dr. Strange.   
“Is that…?”   
“Mount Everest? Yes Penny. It is. Welcome to the Kamar-Taj.”  
.  
Penny knew the situation was serious yet she couldn’t keep the smile off her face as Dr. Strange led her past groups of students practicing magic in the courtyards and through the hallowed halls of the Kamar-Taj.   
Where-ever she looked she discovered new wonderous things or saw incredible magical displays of power.   
Strange took a sharp turn and now they were walking towards huge double winged doors that at the moment stood open. They entered and Penny found herself in the most mysterious magical library she had ever been at.   
Granted she had never been in one before but this was still impressive.  
Rows upon rows of books on high shelves stretching as far as the eyes would go.  
There was a desk and by the desk stood two sorcerers. One was Wong, who was holding two containers of Tupperware for some reason, the other one was a dark-skinned tall man with serious eyes, dressed in green robes.   
“Wong, Mordo, good you are both here.” Strange called out and they both turned around to face them.   
“I swear I was on my way back! You didn’t have to come.” Wong shot back, nodding at the Tupperware in his hands.   
But then he must have seen her and the state they were both in (torn and dirty clothes, superficial scabs and messy hair) and he put the containers aside.   
“What happened?” asked the other one, Mordo as she recalled. “And who is this?”   
Dr. Strange sighed. “This is Penny Parker. Also known as Spider-Girl. And she accidentally touched the Stone of Guru Patil.”   
There was dead silence as the two sorcerers turned to look at her with eyes wide.   
“How do you even touch that thing accidentally?” asked Wong just as Mordo asked: “I thought that thing was securely hidden and locked away at the Sanctum!”   
Strange sighed again, plopping down on a chair by the desk.   
“The sanctum was attacked this afternoon by a rogue sorcerer whose intent it was to get the stone. He almost did but I noticed at the last second and confronted him. Penny took notice of the situation and stepped into help. Sadly, she caught the stone when it dropped from man’s robes. I portaled us here to get her to safety. And to find out how to remove the stone.”  
Wong and Mordo exchanged looks.   
Penny decided to step in.   
“Yeah, hi, Penny here. So, I get that this whole stone-in-my-hand-thing is not good but can someone maybe explain to me why it's not?” she asked.   
The three men looked at each other, then Wong said: “I’ll make us some tea. Stephen, go fetch the book. Mordo...get the girl a change of clothes. I think we might be here for a while.”   
.  
They settled down in a smaller empty courtyard under a big fig-tree and Wong poured each of them a cup of tea as Dr. Strange opened a book on a specific page.   
It was surreal, sitting under a fig tree, dressed in a sorcerer-apprentice's robes while staring at Mount Everest in the distance.   
“The Stone of Guru Patil.” Strange said finally and handed her the book.   
The text was written in Sanskrit but there were pictures too.   
“Guru Patil lived over six hundred years ago and was one the most spiritually enlightened sorceress of all times. Her spiritual strength allowed her to perform magical feats that have not been done since. She was extremely powerful. So powerful that there were certain spells and rituals only she could do. It gave her powers like nobody wielded before and after her. And yet despite that incredible power, she was a scholar more than she was anything else.” Strange began to explain.   
Penny studied the pictures. The first was, presumably, of Guru Patil. She had been a tall woman with long lock hair combed out of her heart-shaped face. Her almond eyes were soft and kind and her golden robes flowed around her like water. She was surrounded by mountains of books and she held one in her right hand as well.   
“You mean for once someone with power didn’t turn into a crazy lunatic hell-bent on ruling the world?” she asked.   
Wong chuckled and Dr. Strange rolled his eyes but nodded.   
“Yes” he said “she was a scholar and taught for many years here at the Kamar Taj. She also held the title as Master Librarian until her death.   
“So, what’s the deal with her stone?” Penny wondered.   
“Guru Patil knew she was unique in her ways of magic and ever the scholar she decided to keep records of her spells, incantations and rituals for future generations, in case one day someone of her power would grace these halls once more. She took this stone” he pointed at the second image on the page “And slept with it under her pillow for seven nights and thus imprinted all her knowledge onto it.”  
“Like an external hard drive?” Penny asked.   
Strange's expression soured slightly at the comparison but Mordo actually cracked a smile.   
“Yes, Penny, like an external hard drive.”   
“That’s cool.”   
“Anyway” the sorcerer supreme continued “Upon her deathbed she entrusted the stone to the Kamar Taj and the Ancient One for safe-keeping. To use it as an educational device.”  
“Let me guess...it went horribly wrong?” Penny guessed, leaning against the stem of the fig-tree.   
“Not at first,” Wong said, picking up the story for Dr. Strange “While many of her students sought to perform magic like she could, most knew they never could. But some still tried and all of them failed. That didn’t stop them through. But they grew frustrated and careless and when a spell went wrong at one point, almost destroying the entire Kamar Taj, the Ancient One decided enough was enough and sent the stone to New York for safe keeping. Most sorcerers don’t know or don’t care about it anymore. It’s become just another artifact. But there are always some who are obsessed with it and the knowledge it holds and think they are powerful enough to unlock its secrets. So, they try to get it and bond with it in order to access the memories of Guru Patil.”  
“Bond with it?” Penny asked. “You mean like what it did with me?”   
“We don’t know exactly how it works either. It’s one of a kind. But from what we’ve gathered from old texts and stories, the stone is somewhat sentient and when it senses a person with magic abilities it bonds with them. It's necessary so that the carrier may access the memories imprinted on the stone. But we don’t know how or why it works like this.” Mordo added.   
“Wait, does that mean that I... have magical abilities…?” Penny asked, surprised by the revelation.   
“There is magical potential in almost everyone. Most just never learn to unlock it.” Strange cut in.   
Penny nodded. “Right, okay, so...if people have bonded with this thing before, then where is the problem?”  
“The last actual bonding occurred four hundred years ago. Since then sorcerers have only tried to access the stone through meditation and the astral plane. Some were more successful than others.”  
“Why?” Penny wondered.   
“Because the last time someone actually bonded with the stone they died.” Mordo said. Wong tried to nudge him in the ribs but it was too late.   
“I’m sorry, what?” Penny asked.   
“Yes, it’s true. The last time a sorceress by the name of Catalina overestimated her own abilities and the stones' power quite literally burned her life away.”   
Penny blanched. “What, so I’m going to die too?” she squeaked.   
“No. The stones' powers are activated by using magic. You don’t know how to do magic so it’s still dormant.” Strange explained.   
“But you said it must have sense magical powers within me because it bonded with me.”  
“It’ll bond with pretty much anything it touches as long as there is a power source, yes. That’s why we make it a point to never touch it with bare hands.”  
“I was wearing gloves!”  
“Our gloves have special protective spells woven into the material.” Wong explained.   
“Then how do we get it out of me? You’re a surgeon, just cut it out of my hand.” she suggested.   
“It doesn’t work like that. It's bonded with you, flesh and soul. Cutting it out won’t work. That’s why I took us here. I’m going to see if there are any texts still here that can maybe help us.”  
Penny hesitated. “Okay so...what do we do until then?”   
“You will have to stay here.”  
She opened her mouth to protest but Dr. Strange gave her no chance.   
“One: Because if something does happen with the stone, we’ll be on site to try and help. And second: There is a crazy man running around New York looking for you. He will kill you to get the stone because that's the one certain way to get it out. And we don’t want that either.”  
“What if you find no solution though? Do I have to stay here for the rest of my life? I can’t do that!” she protested.  
“Cross that bridge when we get there.” Wong said, trying to sooth her.   
She sighed unhappily. “Fine. But I’ll have to make a phone call first.”   
.  
.  
.  
There was absolutely nothing in the world that could have prepared Tony for this phone call.   
“I’m sorry what happened and you are where?” he hissed into the phone as he stood outside the conference room where he was supposed to be participating in a board of directors meeting.   
_“Magic guru stone, in my hand, now I’m at the Kamar-Taj...in Nepal...Kathmandu to be exact.”_ came the reply from the girl on the other end of the line.   
The girl that was not just his mentee but almost like his own daughter.   
Tony took a deep breath and then exhaled it as long as he could.   
“Okay, I’m coming there, tell Strange to open up a portal right now.” he growled. “Even better, put him on the line.”  
 _“Can’t he’s in the library, that’s like all the way across on the other side of this place.”_  
“Fine, I can be there in ten hours if I take the suit.”   
_“Oh my god Mr. Stark, will you stop for a second? I’m fine, the wizards have got it handled. They are looking for a solution as we speak. I knew I shouldn't have told you.”_  
“Have it handled? Have it handled? Penny, you have a magical stone that is a ticking bomb in your hand and are on the other side of the planet! How is that fine? How is that handling it?”  
 _“Yeah well, it’s not like you can do anything about it either! I mean...this whole mumbo-jumbo thing is not exactly our forte Mr. Stark. Science, yes! Magic, no! Until they have searched their text there is nothing happening anyway. And I don’t know magic so I can’t activate the stone so I’m safe as can be.”_  
Tony took another deep breath.   
“Okay” he said through gritted teeth “But that doesn’t mean I’m letting this slide. You will call me everyday! In fact, give me their number, I will call you! And Strange will call me! And I’m coming over there, one way or another.”  
He heard her sigh on the other end but ignored it.   
_“Okay, right, yeah, whatever. Can you tell May?”_   
“Tell your aunt that you somehow got yourself stuck in Nepal? No, you can do that, I’m neither stupid nor suicidal.”   
Penny groaned and he could see the expression on her face before his inner eye.   
For a second he forgot about the stone and the sorcerers and thought of his kid, on the other side of the world, all alone.   
Sure, she put on a brave face but he knew Penny. She was scared.   
“Be honest kiddo. How are you?”   
Her shuddering breath was all he needed to hear.   
_“Honestly? Not what I was expecting when I left for patrol.”_  
“Yeah, I can imagine. But you are alright, right? You’re not hurt or anything?”   
_“I’m fine Tony. Aside from the stone in my hand. But I don’t even feel that.”_  
Tony nodded. “Okay, right. Listen kid call your aunt, tell her what happened, then get back to Strange. He’s weird and annoying most of the time and constantly acts like he has a stick shoved up his…”  
 _“Tony!”_  
“...backside but he’s a god man and he likes you. He’ll take care of you.”  
 _“I can look after myself.”_  
“Maybe. But like you said. This isn’t exactly our area of expertise, kid.”  
 _“Yeah.”_ she agreed, somewhat miserably.  
“Maybe you can use your time there for some souvenir shopping for Morgan. And maybe bring back a yoga-mat for Pepper.”  
 _“You are so uncultured.”_ she snorted.   
“As long as it's no incense-sticks! I hate those!”   
_“Then you should probably stay in New York, this place is full of them.”_  
Tony laughed and relaxed for the first time since answering the phone.   
“Take care kid. Love you. I’ll see you soon.”  
 _“Love you too. See you!”_  
He waited for her to hang up first.   
Right, now he somehow had to explain to Pepper how their kid ended up in Nepal. That would be just as bad as telling May, he was sure of it.   
.  
.  
.  
Penny stared at the ceiling in the little room Mordo had shown her.   
It was very simple with a bed, a small dresser with a basin on top of it and a mirror on the wall above.  
At least they had decent WIFI.   
Her conversation with May had gone about as well as expected but she had managed to calm her aunt and if she was being honest, she hadn’t told her the entire truth about the stone’s dangers.   
And now, with darkness settling over Nepal and the Kamar-Taj settling in for the night as well, Penny found herself still wide awake.   
Finally she couldn’t take it anymore and slipped outside.   
The place was eerie at night.   
In New York there was never real darkness. There was always light in the city that never slept.   
But here, on the mountains of Nepal, there was no light!  
Here, there were only torches illuminating the main plaza as she stepped outside.   
It was bitter cold and she pulled the woollen coat Mordo had given her tighter, yet her toes, fingers and nose were frozen after just a few minutes.   
Aimlessly she wandered around the courtyard.   
Above her stars and constellations, she had never seen before in person glistened in the night sky. It was beautiful.   
But the quiet made her somewhat uncomfortable.   
She finished her round of the courtyard and followed the path down a long hallway to the area they had sat this afternoon, when Strange had told her about the stone and Guru Patil.   
But when she got there, she noticed that she wasn’t alone.   
On a small bench next to the fig-tree and overlooking the mountainside, sat a tall figure.   
It didn’t look like Strange or Mordo and they were too tall to be Wong.   
They turned their head slightly towards her but she still couldn’t make out a face.   
“I’m sorry…I didn’t know someone was here already.” she apologized.   
The person got up, turned around and walked towards her.   
“Oh...you don’t have to get up because of me....I’ll leave.” she mumbled.   
The person still didn’t say anything. They came closer and closer and yet Penny could still not see any identifying features. And then they walked right past her.   
Penny gasped as a gold gust of wind hit her. There was the faint flatter of a robe and the smell of jasmine.   
“I’m sorry for disturbing you.” she said, turning around but...the hallway behind her was empty. There was no one there.   
Penny blinked. Had she imagined this whole thing?  
Surely not!  
Or had it been a trick of the shadows?   
No, not possible! But this was the Kamar-Taj, the birthplace of all things Mystical Arts. Maybe this was normal for the people who lived here.   
A bit spooked but not too concerned she stepped into the small garden and sat down on the bench previously occupied by...well...whoever or whatever they had been.   
She shivered. God, this afternoon she had been in 1000 Degrees New York and now she was in the Himalayas during winter and at night… Her thermoregulation was screaming at her but Penny wasn’t yet ready to go back to her room, let alone sleep.   
So she just watched her breath play in the cold air, watched how it rose up, twisting and twirling.   
Without noticing she changed her breathing pattern into deeper and longer exhales through the mouth and long inhales through the nose.   
The cold mountain air stung in her lungs but she got used to it after a couple of breaths.   
She was so preoccupied that she almost missed the tingling on the back of her neck. Her spider sense telling her someone was approaching.   
She listened to the steps on the soft grass. It wasn’t Dr. Strange. Wherever he walked he walked fast, with confidence and purpose. It wasn’t Wong, his steps were usually slightly shuffled. That left only Mordo. And sure enough.  
“You shouldn’t be out here, alone so late at night.” he said softly behind her.   
“Yeah well...I couldn’t exactly sleep with all that was going.” she admitted and scooted aside to make room for him on the bench.   
“And I don’t exactly blame you.” he said with a wink as he sat down.   
She smiled.   
“I’m sorry if I was interrupting your meditation session. But I thought you might want this.” he pulled out a thick woollen blanket from nowhere.   
“It’s Yak-wool. Keeps you warm very effectively.” he explained as he draped it across her shoulders.”  
“Thanks. I wasn’t meditating. Just...some breathing exercises Mr. Stark taught me to deal with anxiety and panic attacks.” she admitted.   
“Oh, really? Well, they look similar to what we teach our students here in order for them to focus on their magic and bring it up to the surface.” he explained.   
Nervously, Penny pushed a loose strand of hair out of her face. “Do you think I shouldn’t be doing it? What if I do it and it awakens my powers...what if it triggers the stone?” she asked.   
Mordo laughed. “What, you want to stop breathing? No Penny, it will not trigger anything. What we teach here is far more complicated and advanced. You keep doing your breathing exercises.”  
“Oh, okay.” she muttered, somewhat embarrassed and grateful.   
They sat in silence for a few minutes, then Penny became antsy. She wasn’t one to really sit still for long if she didn’t have a concrete task to do.   
“Do you feel tired yet?” Mordo asked.   
“No.” she admitted. “Just...restless...I think. I’m not good at waiting.”   
He nodded. “I see. Well in that case, up you get.”   
He jumped to his feet and in the darkness around them his fists started glowing as he cast a spell. Around the courtyard the wall-mounted torches burst into fire, illuminating the place bright as day almost and Penny had to close her eyes at the sudden onslaught of light.   
“What?” she asked, a bit slow and dumbfounded.   
“Come on, I’ll teach you some moves here. A bit of exercise might tire you out so you can go to sleep.”   
“Moves? What kind of moves?” she asked sceptically as he magicked the bench away so there would be more space to move.   
“Stuff we teach our students. They’re called katas. They are a string of conjoined movements basically. They are the base of all magic spells.”  
“But…” she began again.   
“They won’t trigger your magic or the stone. I’m not teaching you the magic aspect behind them, just the movements. Come on, it’ll be fun. And you might learn a thing or two to use when fighting bad guys in New York.”   
She smiled at that. “Alright, if you think it’s safe.” she relented. Secretly she was excited because she had seen the initiates and trainees training in the grounds today and it had looked magnificent.   
“Right then, stand next to me, feet closed, right hand covering your left hand with both hoovering an inch away from your navel. That is where our chi lies and from where it fills our entire body. Feel the energy in the space between your hands and stomach. That is our Chi, your energy, ready to move you. Good, now follow my lead.”  
And Penny did.  
.  
Mordo taught her two entire katas by the time the horizon began to lighten up in the east.   
Penny was sweating profusely but at least she wasn’t cold anymore.   
She used to dance as a small kid but then it had gotten too expensive and Ben and May hadn’t been able to afford it anymore. She had always regretted not continuing to dance but these katas were almost like dancing in the way you moved around an invisible opponent (or dance partner), how you stepped, jumped and twirled, shifted your weight and moved your arms and legs together.  
She memorized the steps quickly and Mordo was impressed with how quickly she adapted.   
As he watched her perform one kata alone, he commented: “In another lifetime you would have made an excellent sorceress.”   
She smiled. “Maybe. But I’d much rather be Spider-Girl.” she told him with a wink.   
Their little garden of solitude and learning was interrupted by Dr. Strange, who came striding across the lawn, eyebrows knitted together furiously.   
“What do you think you’re doing?” he growled at Mordo.   
“Calm down Stephen, I was just showing her some katas, no magic involved!” Mordo said calmly, holding up his hands in a placatory way.   
“You don’t know that. You don’t know what could trigger the stone to activate. Because nobody knows a damn thing about it.” Strange growled.   
He turned to Penny, obviously trying to reign in his anger.   
“Go get washed up. The bathhouse is down the hallway from your room. When you're done, straight to bed and you might catch a few hours of sleep after all.”  
She nodded. “Yes Dr. Strange.”  
.  
.  
The bathhouse, as Strange had called it, was one big open room with a well in the middle from where water was pulled up to wash with   
The floor was evenly spaced slaps of wood and underneath that wood was a bed of hot glowing coals. Whenever water dropped through the spaces between the wood, it would hiss and steam would billow up from below.   
The entire room was hot and humid but in a nice way. After spending hours outside in the cold, it helped taw Penny’s frozen limbs.   
There were a couple of stools, buckets of water, ladles, bars of soap and brushes to use for their shower so Penny gathered her equipment and began cleaning herself of all the sweat and dirt and grime she had accumulated since yesterday.   
When she had come into the room there had been two other women and at first Penny had felt self-conscious about getting naked but all the steam billowing up all the time acted like sort of a privacy screen and she eventually didn’t mind.   
Instead she sat down on a stool and began shovelling the water from the bucket over her head with one of the big ladles, enjoying the warmth it gave and how it trickled down her body.   
She heard the two women leave after a few minutes and listened carefully for anyone else in the room with her. But she seemed to be alone.   
Content, she pulled up another bucket of water from the well and dumped it on the floor, enjoying the great cloud of steam that immediately encased her.   
She washed and rinsed her hair thoroughly before dumping another bucket of water on the hot coals.   
The steam made it harder to breath but it also opened up all the pores in her body and she relished in the feeling.   
That’s when she heard it.   
A humming.   
A soft melody being hummed by a gentle voice.  
Penny frowned. Had she missed someone coming inside? Or had they been here all along?  
“Hello?” she asked carefully.   
Now she wished there was less steam in the room obstructing her view.   
Carefully she waded through the clouds of vapor, rising up and rolling through the room. Penny felt slightly dizzy, unable to make out where the door or the walls were. She couldn't even see the ceiling so thick was the steam.   
The humming grew louder.   
“Hello? Please, is someone here?” she asked again. She felt vulnerable, all naked with no weapon.   
But her spider-sense was at rest. He didn’t alert her to any danger. She could hear no heartbeat in the room with her, yet at the same time she was sure she wasn't imagining the humming!  
The steam parted before her and her gaze fell onto a woman sitting on a stool with her back to her. She had long black hair she was currently combing over the back of her head, all the while humming. Her hands were delicate with long fingers. An overwhelming smell of jasmine hung in the air.  
“Hello?” Penny asked again.   
The woman didn’t react, just scooped up a ladle of water from the pot next to her and dumped it on the ground. Steam rose up once more and it was more so thick and white it completely overwhelmed Penny’s sight until she could see nothing but white vapor all around her.   
She stumbled backwards, tripped over something and crashed onto the floor.  
The steam disbursed as quickly as it had come and suddenly Penny found herself sitting on the floor of an empty bathhouse with only small wisps of steam rising up from below.  
She gathered up her things, wrapped herself in a towel and quickly headed back to her room.   
.  
Someone had left a fresh set of robes on her bed. They were dark blue and looked like what the trainees wore on the grounds.   
She got dressed quickly, brushed out her hair and rubbed it dry with a towel.  
There was a knock on the door.   
“Yes?” she asked, putting her towel aside.   
The door opened and a woman stepped inside. Mid-thirties, tall with dark skin and delicate features.   
“Good morning Penny. My name is Arden. Arden Cheng. I’m one of the masters at Kamar Taj.” she introduced herself.   
“Hello.” Penny replied.   
“I’m a Master in all things Artifacts and ancient relics” Arden Cheng explained “And Dr. Strange has called me in from Ghana to assist in your...predicament.”  
“Right” Penny nodded, “The stone.”   
Arden nodded and smiled lightly. “No worries Penny. We’ll find a way to get that little bugger out of you. May I see your hand?”   
Penny nodded.   
Arden came over and sat down on the bed with her.   
Penny held out her hand and Arden gently took it, turning it back and forth, inspecting it and the outline of the flat stone underneath the skin of her palm.   
“Incredible. I’ve never seen it bond before. I’ve only seen pictures and read the texts that survived the time.”   
She released Penny’s hand. “Dr. Strange told you about the workings of the stone, right?”   
“More or less. He says because I cannot do magic it's not activated and I can’t access the memories of Guru Patil.”   
“In a sense, yes that is right. And we want to keep it that way. The knowledge inside the stone has made it so powerful that if a sorcerer who is not strong enough to handle it, will quite literally be burned by it.”  
“Yeah...I think Mordo said something like that.” she agreed.   
Arden shook her head. “He’s not one for sugar-coating things, that’s for certain. But like I said, I am confident that we can get you out of this.”   
“Thanks Ms. Cheng.”   
“Call me Arden. Everyone does.” the sorceress said with a kind smile.   
She raised a hand to Penny's still damp hair.   
“Would you like some help braiding your hair? When I used to teach here I did it all the time for our young trainees.”   
“I’m not a trainee though.” Penny pointed out.   
“No but as long as you carry that stone you are an honourable member of our people.”  
Penny smiled. “Then yes please, I would love some help.”   
.  
Dr. Strange raised an eyebrow but said nothing when she and Arden reached the library.   
Arden had braided her hair tightly against her scalp in two Dutch braids, going down the back of her head, similar to how she wore her own hair, and now they were walking towards Strange, Wong and Mordo and Penny felt more at ease than she had yesterday.   
Mordo smiled at her and gave her a small nod but it was obvious that Dr. Strange was still made at him.  
“Ms. Cheng. Thank you for joining us on such a short notice. I see you’ve already met Penny Parker.”  
“Yes” Arden said cheerfully “We’ve talked for a bit, girl stuff you know…”  
Penny suppressed a snort. Right. Girl stuff. Cause it was normal for all girls to have deadly stones stuck in their hands.   
But for some reason Dr. Strange didn’t seem to find that story funny.   
He turned to Penny. “Why don’t you go give Stark a ring? I’m sure he’s dying to get an update.”   
“And what should I tell him? Do we have updates?” she asked.   
“Not yet. But he has been blowing up my phone and it's getting annoying.” the doctor complained, gently pushing her towards the door.   
Penny got the feeling he wanted her to leave.   
So they could talk about her, behind her back.   
She stared at them with narrowed eyes.   
“Go ahead Penny, this part of the process is boring anyway. Just a lot of research in old dusty books. We’ll call you when we find something.” Arden assured her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.   
Penny nodded. “Alright then. See you later.” she said, still hesitant to leave.   
She rounded the nearest corner and stopped, staining her ears to listen.   
_“Stop it Arden.”_ said Dr. Strange, his tone was hard. _“I’m happy for your assistance but I can see what you are trying to do. I can tell you right away that you needn’t bother. The girl is off-limits.”_  
 _“Oh please Stephen. We all know the stone doesn’t just bond with anyone. If she were weak it would have already killed her. There is power within her. Untapped potential. Who knows what she might be able to do? She could be the next Guru Patil. Or the next Sorcerer Supreme.”_  
 _“This is not about us. This is about Penny, a sixteen-year-old girl, who wants to return to her old life and her family.”_ Mordo cut in. _“This is not the time to try and recruit a teenager, who is under the protection of Tony Stark.”_  
Arden scoffed. _“Oh please. He is no problem. Have you at least tried to get her to consider staying at Kamar Taj?”_  
 _“She will not stay. We will get the stone out of her and send her back to New York. That is final.”_ Wong grumbled.   
Arden sighed. _“If you insist.”_  
 _“We do.”_ said all three men together.   
Penny had heard enough. She turned around and hurried away, her head swimming with the new-found information.   
Had Dr. Strange lied to her?   
What did Arden mean by her being powerful?   
Did they want her to stay and become a sorcerer?  
But what about the stone?   
Her stomach turned and knotted itself painfully.   
What was going on here?  
.  
.  
The phone at Kamar Taj looked like it was the first phone ever invented but it managed to build up a decent connection to New York and Tony's phone so who was she to judge. She really wanted to speak with someone familiar.  
It rang a couple of times, then someone picked up.   
_“Hello?”_  
“Pepper? It’s me, Penny.”   
_“Oh my god Penny! I’m so glad to hear from you! How are you sweetheart?”_ came Peppers concerned but also relieved response from the other side.   
“I’m fine. It’s really nice here. Everyone is looking out for me. And I’m fine so...nothing to worry about. Is...is Tony around?”   
_“That's good to hear honey. Yeah, he’s around. I had to confiscate his phone so he would finally pay attention in a meeting. Hang on, I’m going there right now to get him.”_  
She could hear pepper open and close a door and then walking at a brisk pace.   
Then another door opened and somewhat muffled she could hear Pepper say: _“Tony, come here for a second.”_  
There was a muffled reply she couldn’t understand and then she heard Pepper again.   
_“It’s Penny.”_  
Then there was a loud commotion. It sounded like someone was wrestling the phone out of Peppers hand, dropping it twice and knocking over chairs along the way, before Tony's breathless voice came on over the speaker.   
_“Penny? Kiddo, is that you?”_  
“Hi Mr. Stark.” she said as brightly as she could. It was good to hear his voice.   
_“Hey kiddo, how’re you doing?”_  
“I’m great. The Kamar Taj is great.”  
 _“Except for the fact that's in Nepal.”_ Tony grumbled.   
“Are you still hung up about that?” she teased.   
_“Yeah, well, Strange is not answering any of my texts. And there are only so many messages I can leave on his phone before it's full.”_  
She laughed. “Yeah, he told me all about that. He’s pretty annoyed.” she admitted.   
_“So what’s going on on your end? Any news?”_ he asked, changing the topic.   
Penny shrugged and leaned against the wall.   
“Kinda. They called in a specialist from Ghana to help with the research. Now they’re just searching all their texts for anything that could help. I’d help but it's all in Sanskrit and most of it Google can’t translate because it's like a really old form of it or something. So I’m just waiting and exploring Kamar Taj a bit.”  
 _“Sounds exciting.”_  
“It actually is.”   
His laugh was bright and honest and it felt good to know he was able to relax at least a bit.   
“How’s everything in New York?” she asked instead, steering the conversation away from doom and gloom and to more pleasant topics.   
_“It’s New York. It’s loud and people are rude and it's just simple the greatest city on earth.”_  
“I miss it.” she admitted softly. “Nepal is great and all but it’s not home, you know?”   
_“I know.”_ he replied just as softly. _“Tell Strange to get off his behind and his nose out of his dusty books for a damn minute so he can open a portal so I can see my kid.”_  
She smiled sadly. “I’ll see what I can do.”   
She heard footsteps approach and saw Arden coming towards her.   
“I gotta go Tony, the specialist they called is here.”   
Tony sighed heavily on the other end of the line.   
_“Fine kiddo. Talk to you soon, okay?”_  
“Sure. By Tony.”   
She hung up and turned to Arden, who had stopped a few meters away respectfully to not disturb her privacy.   
“What’s up?” Penny asked.   
“The sky. But that's not what you meant. I just wanted to see where you were and ask if maybe you wanted to go on a walk outside the sanctuary.”   
Penny perked up at that. Outside?  
“Sure, I’d love to.” she said.   
“Great, go gather your coat, it’s cold outside. I’ll meet you at the front gate. You know where that is, right?”   
Penny nodded.   
“Excellent. See you there.”   
Arden set to leave but Penny called out: “Wait...does Dr. Strange know? Should I tell him?”  
Arden shrugged. “You can tell him but since you’ll be with me the entire time, I don’t think we need to worry.” she replied.   
Penny hesitated.   
There was a huge chance Dr. Strange would say no and she really wanted to explore more of Nepal. On the other hand, … She remembered the conversation she had overheard earlier. Dr. Strange didn’t entirely trust Arden. Did that mean that Penny couldn’t trust her?   
She fiddled with the end of the braid Arden had done.   
Her mind made up, she hurried back to her room to fetch her coat. And to leave a message.   
.  
.  
Inside the Kamar Taj she had been very shielded from the outside that was Kathmandu.  
It was a vibrant colourful city where ancient and modern buildings stood side by side and its million inhabitants crowded the streets.   
Food vendors prepared a constant stream of delicious smelling meals and sweet drinks.   
Salesmen haggled on street corners with tourists and thousands of tuk-tuks, cars, mopeds and pick-up trucks treated traffic rules like they were suggestions.   
It was amazing.   
Loud and overwhelming for her enhanced sense but still great.   
Arden led them through the streets away from Kamar Taj and towards the temples.   
Penny was enchanted by the colourful buntings lining almost every roof and stretching between tower peaks.   
The temple was bustling with activities.   
Tourists taking guided tours, snapping pictures and admiring everything, next to them walked residents of the city going in to pray, to meet with friends and hang out together.   
And then there were the poor and the beggars, sitting in the shadows, holding out their hands in hope for some money or food or really anything.   
Penny was no stranger to homelessness and poverty in New York. As Spider-Girl she had encountered and helped her own fair share of homeless people.   
But still it was hard to look at, no matter where you were.   
Seeing people in desperate need, being ignored by the people with enough wealth to share.   
In New York she made it a point to always carry spare change with her on patrol and when walking home so she could always give something or buy someone a sandwich or food for their animal companion.   
“Penny?”   
Arden’s voice brought her out of her own thoughts.   
“Yes?” she asked.   
Arden laughed. “I was wondering if you could hold this for a second.”   
She held out one of the two big bags she had brought with her from the sanctuary. Penny hadn’t asked what it was when she had seen it. But now she was curious.   
“Sure...what is it?”   
Arden smiled. “Bread, a bit of fruit and some bottles of water. We’re going to distribute them among those who need them the most.” she explained.   
Penny felt her face light up. “That is a wonderful idea.”  
“Glad you think so. Why don’t you start on that side and I start over here?”   
Penny nodded.   
For about an hour she walked around the temple, distributing food whenever someone needed it.   
And while she did not understand what they said, the people seemed to recognize her. They would touch the robe she was wearing and nod their head in thanks.  
She met up with Arden at the temple doors and they had a quick break, eating and drinking some themselves.   
“Why do they act like they know me?” Penny asked Arden after a while.   
“Because they do. They know we’re from Kamar Taj and they know we’re out here, protecting the world and looking out for the little people at the same time. There used to be more we would do for our people here. But the sorcerers have gone back into the shadows, shielding themselves from the outside world, forgetting what their once holy task was.” Arden told her sorrowfully.   
“That's why I became a sorcerer in the first place. I have been fighting these injustices all my life. But there is only so much I can do on my own. I thought magic would help me. But it’s become very restraining with all its rules and secrets.” She sighed once more.   
“And our numbers are dwindling. Less and less magically inclined novices reach the Kamar Taj each year. I fear what will happen to us if we do not train a new generation of sorcerers soon.”  
“Yeah, I heard that’s a problem for a lot of industries right now.” Penny mumbled, all too aware where this conversation was probably headed.   
Arden chuckled. “Yes. That is true. Which is why I want to ask you…”  
“I don’t wanna be a sorceress.” Penny interrupted her.   
Arden looked taken aback.   
“Did Stephen tell you?” she sounded slightly annoyed.   
“No, I overheard you in the library.” Penny admitted, not looking Arden in the eye.   
“Really?”  
“I have enhanced senses. I hear pretty well.”   
Arden nodded. “So, how much did you hear then?”   
“Not a lot. But you want me to stay at Karma Taj so I can be trained in the magical arts. Because you think I’m powerful and that the Stone didn’t just bond with me because it could.”  
“And I stand by that. I took a look into your soul Penny. There is a lot of potential there. A lot of power. All of it untapped, just lying there, waiting to be used. I saw you and Mordo training this morning. You have a talent for this.”  
Penny squinted her eyes, looking at the woman intently.   
“You think I can use the stone.” she suddenly realized. “You think I can do what nobody could in six hundred years. Access the memories and knowledge of Guru Patil and actually...wield her power.”  
Arden clasped their hands together.   
“Penny” she said intently “I have studied Guru Patil’s life since I was a child. She was more than a scholar and a powerful sorcerer. She was a humanitarian. Under her guidance our communities flourished all around the world and with it everyone around them. She used her power to make the world a better place. We need someone like her, with her power setting us back onto that path. Someone who inspires others to do the same. You’re Spider-Girl. You know what I’m talking about. Stephen Strange is a great sorcerer but he is not the one who will lead us into times of prosperity and wealth for everyone. He’d rather hide in his sanctum, biding time until the next great disaster happens when there is so much suffering out there that is not aliens and homicidal maniacs bent on cleansing the Galaxy or whatever. You could do it. I’ve seen the loyalty you inspire in people who barely know you. You have a wonderful pure heart and Penny, if you could see what I saw in you…” she trailed off.   
“You can’t even begin to imagine the things you could do.”  
Penny stared at her.   
“The stone could also kill me.” she whispered.   
“I wouldn’t ask you this if I wasn’t one hundred percent sure you could do it!”   
Penny stood up and took a step back. “I... I don’t know...everything you say...it sounds too fantastic to be true!” she protested.   
“Penny I could teach you all you need to know. And in time you would see that I’m right. Here” she pulled a ring of her finger, a ring she had seen on Dr. Strange, Wong and Mordo as well and handed it to her, “This is a Sling Ring. It allows us to travel through the Multiverse. Just one of the many helpful abilities I have used in my time to travel around the world to help those in need. But what do some of my colleagues use it for? To go from one room to another or to get lunch. Our powers come with responsibilities. Yet so many people seem to forget that.”  
Penny weighed the ring in her hand.   
_With great power comes great responsibility._  
Her uncle’s words echoed through her mind like they so often did.   
She had turned down the Avengers because she had wanted to keep looking out for the little guy. Protect Queens and the people there. And she had done that.   
But the Snap had changed so much. Not all for the better and Penny often felt that she was fighting an uphill battle. No matter how many muggings and bank robberies she stop, there would always be more. Sometimes she would be too late or have to decide between two things, wishing she could split herself in two and help more people.   
What Arden was saying was tempting to try. Her words were tempting.   
But she couldn’t promise anything.   
And at the end of the day Penny was no good to Queens if she was dead.  
She handed the sling ring back to Arden.   
“I know where my responsibilities lie” she whispered “I agree with what you say about the world. But we can’t save it on our own. It has to be a collective effort. I’m willing to help in any capacity that I can. But not this. I’m sorry.”  
Arden took the ring. She looked crestfallen.   
“I see.” she said. Abruptly she got up, shouldered her bag and started walking.   
Penny jumped to her feet, following her.   
“Arden, I’m truly sorry but you must see that this is not the only way. We can still work together.”  
Arden ignored her and ahead of her a portal opened.   
“Arden wait for me!”  
But the woman stepped through the portal and it closed behind her immediately, leaving Penny alone by the temple side.   
.  
.  
She managed to retrace her steps and made it back to Kamar Taj by the time supper rolled around.   
When she entered the great front hall, she could already hear Dr. Strange arguing loudly with someone.   
“There will be consequences. Now tell me where you left her!”  
She stepped around the corner and saw Dr. Strange towering over Arden, who looked at him coolly.   
“I’m here.” she said, announcing her presence.   
Both adults looked at her.   
Arden scowled but Dr. Strange looked somewhat relieved.   
he turned back to Arden. “This is not over. We’ll continue this later.” he growled at her before turning sharply away from her and making his way over to Penny.   
Arden too walked away, not even glancing at Penny.   
“Are you okay?” Strange asked her, eyeing her from head to toe.   
“I’m fine. Sorry for leaving without telling you...I just…she was son nice and I thought it would be alright.” she apologized.   
Dr. Strange put a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t blame you. I brought her here, it is my fault. But she is the leading expert on everything related to Guru Patil. I should have known she’d try something like this.”  
She hesitated but she had to ask. “Is it true? What she said about me? About...me being powerful?”   
Strange hesitated. “There...is no test to see how powerful a sorcerer could ever become. Is simply not possible. But...you can see potential and... depending on that potential, you can estimate…”  
“So...is it true what she says about my potential?”   
Strange hesitated a second too long, which gave her all the answers she needed.   
“But...I don’t want it.” she whispered.   
He sighed. “As you very well know Penny: Some are born great, some achieve greatness. And some have greatness thrown upon them. It is not for us to ask why.”  
“No, I feel like it is.” she objected miserably.   
“Penny, you are already doing great things with the powers that you have. Nobody will expect more of you. Nobody but yourself. It is up to you. If you want to use the potential you have, then we can teach you. But bare in mind the risks that would mean for you currently. But I will not force you. Nobody will.”  
She hesitated.   
“What about afterwards? Say we get the stone out and I live. What then?”  
“Like I said, it is your choice. If you need a teacher, I will be there for you. As will Wong and Mordo and I’m sure even Arden. But you have no duties or obligations towards us or anyone else. We only know of this because you were at the wrong place at the wrong time and Arden chose to read your soul. If none of this had happened, we wouldn’t even know. In the medical world we call that incidental finding or a chance finding. We weren’t looking for it, we were treating a different problem but found something else by accident as well. Sometimes that's a good thing. Other times like right now...it's just random. Nothing we really have to worry about.”   
She nodded. “Thank you Dr. Strange.” she whispered.   
“Call me Stephen. I think after this it's only natural.”   
She laughed. “Yeah, you’re right. Thank you, Stephen.”  
“Come on, you have a visitor.”  
“A visitor?”  
“Like it or not, we’re still not done. Things have just gotten worse.”  
.  
.  
She recognized his heartbeat before she even heard his voice and took off sprinting towards the main courtyard.   
“Tony!” she yelled, throwing herself at him.   
Technically she had seen him only yesterday but it all felt like it was years ago.   
“Penny!” he hugged her tightly, lifting her off the ground.   
She buried her face in the crook of his neck and breathed in deeply, taking in the smell of aftershave, motor oil and mint-toothpaste.   
“Oh my god, kiddo it is so good to see you.” he put her down on her feet and put a rough calloused hand to her cheek. Gently he turned her head left to right and back again.   
“You look different.” he whispered.   
“It's just the clothes.” she whispered back.   
“Yeah, what's up with all the bathrobes, Harry Potter?” he teased her.   
She swatted his hand away.   
“I’ll have you know that these ‘bathrobes’ are ridiculously comfortable and I might just replace my entire wardrobe with them.”  
“Do they come in gold and red?” Tony asked.   
“I’m sure we can arrange that.” Penny assured him.   
They laughed and Penny forgot about Arden and her proposition and just enjoyed being around the man who was like a father to her.   
He took her right hand and examined her palm.   
The stone was visible under her skin but when he touched it with his fingers, she hardly felt like there was something off.   
“Oh kiddo. What have you gotten yourself into?” he whispered softly.   
“I’m sorry.”  
“Not your fault.” he assured her gently.   
“Stark.” Dr. Strange interrupted their short reunion.   
They both turned around to him.   
The sorcerer supreme was waiting by the stairs leading into the library.   
“I thought you didn’t want him to come here?” she asked teasingly.   
“Oh, don’t thank me.” Stephen said.   
Penn laughed but Tony cut in.   
“No really kid, _don’t_ thank him, he didn’t portal here. I called Wong. He did.”   
"I still wish he hadn't." Strange sighed.  
"Admit it, without me your life would be boring." Tony teased.  
Dr. Strange waved his complaints aside.   
“Not important. You’re here now, aren’t you? Have you told her yet?” he asked.   
“I just now got to see her, give me a break.” Mr. Stark grumbled.   
“We don’t have time to lose. Come, both of you.”   
“What's going on?” Penny asked, as Tony took her hand and let her towards Stephen.   
“Trouble is brewing in New York.”  
“What kind of trouble?” she asked.   
“Purple trouble.”   
.  
.  
Penny stared at the image on the TV.   
Stared at the carnage in the streets, the collapsed houses and burning car wrecks.  
“He did that? All by himself?” she whispered.   
The image froze and was replaced by the grant security footage of the purple glowing wizard who had tried to steal the stone originally.   
“His name is Grant Henderson. We finally managed to identify him. He trained her about thirty years ago and then set out, travelling the world on a humanitarian mission. We don’t know what happened to him afterwards or why he is purple or why he wants the Stone of Guru Patil. But he’s adamant about getting it. So far, he’s laid waste to six different parts of New York. I have the team trying to apprehend him but so far, no luck. He appears somewhere, causes chaos and damage but disappears immediately when they get too close to him. Then he just reappears somewhere else. And does the same thing all over.” Stephen explained.   
“You can imagine that the US Government is up our asses to stop him.” Tony added.   
“So, what’s the plan then?” Penny asked. “I assume that's why you’re here, why we’re all here…”   
“Hey, I’m here to see you!” Tony protested.   
She stared at him pointedly.   
“Yeah, okay fine and because he’s becoming a problem. But mostly because of you.”   
“Maybe we can lure him out of the city, somewhere with less people...fight him there.” Mordo suggested.   
“And how would we do that. We can’t exactly give him what he wants.” Tony pointed out.   
“I mean…” Wong said, exchanging glances with Mordo “Technically we do…”   
There was silence.   
Then: “Absolutely not, we’re not using her as bait!” Tony protested.   
“Why not? It’s not like we would leave her alone, we’d just be hidden…” Mordo defended himself.   
“He’ll know it's a trap.”   
“Probably but he wants the stone more than he cares for anything else. i think it’s worth a shot.” Wong pointed out.   
“I can’t believe I’m saying this but Strange? You’re officially my favourite wizard again.” Tony muttered.   
“Thanks, I don’t want it.” Strange shot back.   
He stepped forward and continued: “And I’m with Wong. Mr. Henderson is beyond reason at this point and we clearly can’t waste time, risking innocents getting injured so I’ll second the idea. Penny, what do you think?”   
“You can’t ask her; she had no self-preservation skills!” Mr. Star objected.   
“Hey!” protested Penny.   
“Honey, you know I love you but it's true.”   
“Mr. Stark you also know that I will never sit by and watch innocent people get hurt. I’m in.”   
Mr. Stark threw his hands in the air. “Unbelievable.”   
“Nothing’s gonna happen to me. We can have the team there for backup and we have three sorcerers on our side.”   
“Four” said a new voice and Penny turned to see Arden standing in the doorway “Four sorcerers. I want to come. I want to help.”   
“I’m sorry, who are you?” Tony asked.   
But it was Strange who answered her. “Absolutely not!”  
“I know you’re mad at me for what I did to Penny…”   
“What did you do to her?” Tony growled but was ignored.   
“...but you can use all the help you can get.”  
She sighed.   
“Look, I’m sorry for the way things escalated but I’m still on your side.”  
“I think she should come.” Penny said into the tense silence that followed Arden’s words.   
“What? After what she did?” Stephen asked.   
Penny rolled her eyes. “She didn’t do anything. We just talked. And she is right, we can use all the help we can get.”  
The grown-ups didn’t look thrilled but they relented.   
“Fine, let’s discuss…” Strange began but a sigil suddenly appeared in the air above them. pulsating red and urgent.   
“What is…” Penny began but Wong was quicker.   
“It’s the Sanctuary in New York. Someone is attacking it!”  
“Fifty dollars says it’s Barney the Sorcerer.” Tony sighed.   
“With no one there to protect the sanctum he’ll get in in no time, we have to stop him here and now!” Mordo said urgently.   
“Why?” Tony asked.   
“Because there are a lot of other artifacts in there, none of which I want in his hands.” Strange said tensely.   
He began moving his hands, opening a portal.   
“What about a plan?” Penny asked.   
“We’ll improvise. It’s not like our plans ever work out anyway.”   
“Speak for yourself, my plans always work out.” Penny muttered.   
“Even though they rely heavily on pop culture.”  
“You can talk about that later. Through you go!” Strange called out.   
One by one they walked through and right into a warzone.   
.  
.  
.  
There was thick smoke in the air and the stench of burning gasoline.   
It came from the various overturned and burning cars all over the street.   
Streetlights had been bent so far, their lamps touched the ground or been torn out completely. The street itself looked like someone had cut through it with a knife. A crater as wide as a pick-up-truck and as deep as an upright standing semi-truck went along the entire street.   
The facade of the buildings was cracked in various places, windows were broken, doors ripped off their hinges…  
The Sanctum looked relatively unharmed but not for the lack of trying by one purple sorcerer.   
He was giving it his all, hurling glowing sign after glowing sign at the building.   
“Grant Henderson! Stop your attacks immediately!” Stephen bellowed.   
Henderson turned around, a crazed look in his eyes.   
His eyes took them in one by one but stopped when he saw her.   
“There you are.” he screeched and launched himself into the air.   
Instinctively Penny flicked her wrists but cursed when she realized that her suit and her web-shooters were back at the Karma Taj.   
But the others had her back.   
Wong summoned a shield and Henderson crashed into it and then bounced off it and flew backwards into an overturned car.   
“Okay, so what’s the plan?” Tony shouted, his suit engaging and encasing him within seconds. Those nanites were really handy.   
“Attack him together and subdue him. Don’t let him get to Penny. Penny, stay back!”   
.  
Maybe it was Henderson’s manic state or his complete lack of control and absolute craziness. But he completely obliterated their attack.   
Mr. Stark, Dr. Strange, Wong, Mordo and Arden came at him with all they had.   
Mordo, using his jumping boots, tried to get the upper hand by surprising him with a sneak attack from behind but Henderson waved his arm and a wave of glowing symbols crashed into Mordo, sending him flying into Arden.   
Wong tried to erect a wall around him to trap him inside but he pulverized them and sent Wong flying after Mordo and Arden.   
Mr. Stark tried to blast him but he pulled up a shield and deflected the blast so it hid Mr. Stark instead.   
Dr. Strange did some weird movements with his hands and a shimmering wall started to expand but Henderson roared and smashed a glowing fist into it. Shard of glass fell from the sky and Penny had to duck for cover to not get hit by it.   
“I WANT THE STONE!” Henderson yelled and sent a wave of magic crashing into Stephen, throwing him into a brick wall.   
“Well, that didn’t work.” Mr. Stark said, getting back to his feet with a wince. He was injured.   
“I didn’t know Grant had that in him.” grumbled Arden as she dusted off her hands.   
“You know this clown?” Tony asked.   
“He’s one of my students. I may or may not have told him all about Guru Patil.”  
“You what?” Wong asked in disbelief.   
“I know I know, my mistake. I didn’t expect him to become a fanatic.” she growled.   
“Well...what do we do then?” Mordo asked.   
“Attack again. We have to keep trying.” Strange commanded.   
Mr. Stark nodded. “Yeah. Penny, keep staying back.”  
They advanced again but apparently Henderson had enough. He jumped into the air and when he came back down, he crashed his fist into the ground.   
A shockwave rippled across the floor and before either of the sorcerers of Mr. Stark could do something they were trapped knee-deep in the asphalt of the street as if it had turned into quicksand!  
Five seconds.  
Henderson had defeated all five of them in less than five seconds.   
He now turned his attention to her.   
“Penny, run!” she heard Strange shout but she knew she couldn’t. And she wouldn’t.   
She might not have her suit right now or her webs but she was still Spider-Girl. She still had her speed, her strength, her agility and her mind.   
She slid the woollen coat she was still wearing off her shoulders, letting the robes she wore flow freely.   
“Give it to me. It’s mine!” Henderson hissed at her.   
“It’s not.” she said calmly. “You don’t know what it can do to you.”  
“It won’t do anything to me! I am destined to fulfil Guru Patil’s legacy!” he shouted completely unhinged. “And if you won’t give it to me, I will cut it out of your cold dead body!”   
Around Penny everything slowed down.   
She closed her eyes, sent out her spider sense and prepared herself.   
Henderson sent out a volley of spells, all aimed at her but she dodged, turned, jumped and evaded every single one of them, all the while making her way towards them.   
She swirled, bent over backwards, slid on her knees, jumped high into the sky and then she was dropping down on him like an avenging angel with her hair undone and her robes billowing around her.   
There was nothing he could do when she crashed into him and forced him to the ground.  
They wrestled for a few seconds but she got the upper hand, securing his hands together.   
“It’s over Grant. You won’t hurt anyone anymore!” she hissed, holding on tightly.   
“Never, it is never over!” he screamed. His hands started glowing purple and symptoms of power appeared on his skin. Not good, Penny though.   
“Penny look out!” someone shouted and then she was tackled in the side and lifted off Henderson, just in time or otherwise the purple stream of energy would have hit her in the face. Instead it hit the person who had tackled her.   
She swirled around and saw Arden lying on the ground, hands pressed into her side, blood flowing freely from the wound there.   
“NO! Arden!” Penny shouted and dropped down next to the woman, ignoring as the others engaged Henderson once more.   
Instead she focused on Arden.   
The woman was pale underneath her dark complexion. And there was blood trickling down her chin.   
“No…” Penny whispered. “No, Arden!”   
The woman coughed and more blood fell from her lips.   
“I’m sorry I put so much pressure on you Penny. You’re already an amazing kid. And if you keep doing what you’re doing, you will change the world. I just know it. You’ll change it in a way I never could.”   
“No, please, don’t talk like that. Arden, please.”   
“Penny...stay true to yourself. Don’t ever let someone tell you who to be. I’m sorry I tried to change you.”  
“No, no you didn’t. You mean well, I know you do. I’m sorry.”   
“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Arden promised her, her voice growing weaker.   
“You saved my life.”  
“I’m sure you would have done the same.” Arden whispered. She squeezed Penny’s hand.   
“It’s alright. You’ll be alright. I did this to myself. Now go, get out of here. Don’t let him get you.”   
“I can still save you.” Penny whispered and attempted to pick Arden up but the woman pushed her hands away.   
“Go, Penny. Go!” she breathed out, before she stilled completely, her eyes open but unseeing.   
“No...” Penny whispered, tears dwelling in her eyes.   
But there was no time for grief.   
An explosion next to her sent her flying. She managed to twist her body mid-air so she landed on her feet.   
Around her, the fight was over.   
Aside from her the only one left standing was Henderson.   
And he was making his way towards her.   
Anger welled up inside of her, hot and desperate.   
He raised his hands, ready to unleash his magic.   
It was instinct that guided Penny to raise her own hands.   
The burning gathered in her hands and she thrust them out, screaming: “NO!”  
A wave of orange magic, intricate symbols of power and geometric forms, rolled towards Henderson and collided with his magic.   
There was a **BOOM** and she felt herself flying backwards.   
She crashed through the doors of the Sanctum Sanctorum and into the main staircase.   
She could feel the wood break and splinter underneath her as it broke her fall.   
She lay there, pain radiating throughout her whole body.   
She tasted blood in her mouth....   
.  
.  
.  
Penny blinked.   
She was at Kamar Taj.   
Standing in the main hall.   
How had she gotten here?  
But everything was dark and empty.   
“Hello?” she called out.   
Nothing but her echo came back.   
“Hello?” she tried again, looking around.   
Still nothing.   
There was no one in the courtyards, nobody in the library, the study hall, the kitchen or by the living quarters.   
Karma Taj was deserted.   
Or so she thought.  
The first thing she noticed was the smell of jasmine, strong and familiar.   
And then she heard humming.  
The same humming, she had heard in the bathhouse.   
She followed melody until she got to the small courtyard with the fig-tree.   
And there, on the bench sat a woman in golden robes with long black hair.   
She turned around when Penny sat foot on the grass and Penny stopped, recognizing her face.   
“Hello Penny” said Guru Patil “Nice to finally meet you.”   
.  
“I... I don’t understand.” Penny whispered as Guru Patil rose to her feet and put the book she’d been reading aside. “I... where are we? And how...how can you be here? You died!”  
“I did” Guru Patil said with a smile “A long time ago.”  
“But I saw you! You were there last night when I went out. And…and in the bathhouse! How?”   
“You forget you currently carry a part of me inside of you.”   
“The stone.” Penny breathed in realization.   
“Yes. We’re inside your head. You took a nasty fall when your magic clashed with that of Grant Henderson. You’re currently unconscious. But your friends and family are fighting valiantly to protect you.”  
“My magic?” she whispered fearfully. “Does...does that mean I activated the stone?”   
“Yes, it does. But fear not. It will not kill you. Arden Cheng was right when she sensed great power lying dormant inside of you. Or...not so dormant anymore I should say. You used instinctively what many others take years to master.”  
“But...I don’t want it. I don’t want your power or your knowledge. I just want to be me again!” Penny whispered brokenly.   
“I know. And I wish that for you as well. I’ve spent the last four hundred years re-evaluating my choice to imprint my memories onto this stone as a way to preserve my knowledge for the after world. But I have come to realize that maybe the world isn’t ready for it just yet. Which is why I have chosen you to help me destroy the stone.”  
Penny stared at her with wide eyes. “Destroy it? How?”   
“You’ll know how when the time has come. But right now, you need to wake up. Your friends are in trouble and could really use your help.”  
“I....I still don‘t unterstand.” Penny admitted.   
“That's alright. Let me take the lead.”  
.  
.  
Tony wasn’t sure how they were losing but they were.   
Whatever had possessed Henderson, it was beating their asses.   
Worst of all he had no way of getting to Penny.   
He’d seen her crash inside the Sanctuary after her display of magic (they would unpack that later because if he started thinking about it too much now, he was sure his head would explode) but Henderson had kept them too occupied for him to check up on her.   
And she had yet to emerge.   
He tried not to think about the other woman. The one who had saved Penny’s life. The one Strange had been so against coming.  
If she hadn’t been there, Penny would be dead.   
He tried not to let that thought linger.   
And where the hell was the rest of the team? Surely by now someone must have noticed what was going on here!   
He shot to straight beams at Henderson. But like the times before he simply reflected them.   
He dodged and something caught his attention.   
From the broken doors of the Sanctum he saw someone emerge.   
Penny.   
His relief was cut short.   
He wasn’t the only one who had noticed her.   
Henderson yelled and attacked but they were all taken by surprise by what happened next.   
Penny’s entire body started to glow. Like an aura of silvery light the glow surrounded her and when she looked up, her eyes were simply two glowing orbs in their sockets.   
Her dark hair had come undone from the braids and now it hovered around her head like a dark halo.  
She raised her arms as she began stepping down the stairs of the Sanctum.  
The glow intensified.   
Henderson screamed and began attacking her relentlessly but the glow around her absorbed his spells like they were nothing.   
The glow grew more and more until Tony had to shield his eyes, even in his suit.   
So, he didn’t see the next part but there was another **BOOM** and around them everything shook.   
He risked opening his eyes and…  
The glow was gone.   
The carnage was gone.   
The streets and the buildings looked as if nothing ever happened.   
The cars, previously burning and overturned, stood neatly parked on the side-lines.   
Strange, Wong and the one they called Mordo, were all slowly getting to their feet.   
In the middle of the street knelt Henderson. And Penny stood above him, one hand pressed firmly against his forehead.   
“Enough.” she said with a voice that wasn’t hers. “You have done enough.”  
Henderson collapsed.   
“Penny?” Strange asked carefully as they approached.   
The girl turned towards them.   
The aura might have dispersed but her eyes were still glowing and her hair still floated around her head.   
“Stephen Strange. The Sorcerer Supreme. You have done well looking after the child. No harm will come to her.”  
“Did you kill him?” Strange asked.   
“Better question yet, who the hell are you? Get out of my kid!” Tony growled, readying his repulsors.   
“He’s not dead. I’ve simply taken away his magic. As for who I am...my name is Guru Patil. And there is no need to fret Antony Stark. Your child has done me a great service. I will not harm her. In fact, I will take my leave.”  
Tony watched as the glow left Penny’s eyes, returning them to their normal hazel colour and her hair decided to obey the laws of gravity once more.   
She blinked owlish, once, then twice and looked around.   
“Penny?” Are you alright?” Strange asked.   
Penny looked up.   
“I... I don’t know.” she whispered hoarsely.   
Her hands were balled together tightly and she was shaking.  
“Penny…” Strange said.   
Tony made a step towards her but Wong held him back.   
“Wait!” he said.   
“What do you mean wait, that’s my kid.” he growled at the smaller man.   
“Somethings happening.” Mordo muttered.   
He was right. It wasn’t just Penny shaking. The entire ground was shaking.   
“What’s going on?” Tony shouted.   
“Penny, whatever it is, you have to let it go! Don’t worry, nothing will happen to you! Just let it go!” Strange suddenly shouted, his eyes wide.   
Slowly, Penny hands unclenched and they watched as the palm of her right hand split open and the flat stone that had been the cause for all their trouble pushed itself to the surface.  
It rose slightly into the air, turning slowly around itself.   
And then, all of a sudden it burst into flame.   
It burned brighter than a star and within a second nothing but ashes remained.  
And those ashes were gently picked up by the wind and carried away.   
Tony shoved Wong's arm away, disengaging his suit.   
“Penny?” he asked cautiously.   
The girl simply stood there, eyes wide and vacant. Still trembling.   
And then her eyes rolled up into her skull.   
“Someone catch her, she’s going to faint!” Strange barked and Tony jumped forwards but Mordo was quicker with his stupid jumping boots.   
The sorcerer caught Penny just as her knees gave out.   
Tony was by their side a second later.   
“Penny? Kiddo? Can you hear me?”   
For a horrible second there was absolutely nothing.   
Mordos fingers pressed against her neck, searching for a pulse.  
“She’s alive.” he promised Tony.   
A low moan came from Penny’s direction and Tony pushed the hair out of her face.   
“Penny? Kiddo, can you hear me?”  
Her eyes opened slightly.   
“Tony?” she slurred.   
“I’m here sweetheart. You did great.”  
“Stone gone?”   
“Yes Penny, you burnt it to a crisp. Actually, you burned it beyond a crisp. It’s gone kiddo.”  
“Good.”   
Then she promptly fainted again.   
.  
.  
.  
It was almost like being underwater.   
Everything was blurry and shifting and the colour was all wrong.   
Muffled noises reached her ears.   
She couldn’t make out what they were saying so she slipped back down again into the deep.   
.  
.  
Someone was brushing their fingers through her hair.   
It felt nice. She sighed and turned her head into the touch.   
The hand stilled.   
“Penny?”   
She knew that voice.   
May.   
But she was too tired to talk to her aunt so she just learned into the touch and slept on.   
.  
.  
“Come on kiddo, you’re even worrying Strange. He’d never admit it but he’s pacing and you know what they say about pacing men... well... actually I don’t even know what they say about pacing men but I don’t think it's anything good.”  
That was Mr. Stark, talking to her.   
Had she fallen asleep at the table again?   
Penny frowned.   
That small movement was enough to send spikes of pain all over her body.   
Every muscle in her body felt sore and stiff.   
Good god, what had she been doing?   
“Penny?”   
“Did she just move?”   
“Strange, get your ass in here and do you mumbo-jumbo!”  
“Can it Stark?”   
There was more than one voice now and it aggravated her headache.   
She groaned and around her the voice fell quiet except for one.   
“Penny? Hun, can you hear me? It’s me, May? Come on darling, you have been asleep for far too long.”   
She opened her eyes a tiny bit.   
“May?” she croaked; her voice rough from disuse.   
She smacked her lips together. Her mouth was so dry.   
Something cool touched her lips.   
A metallic straw.   
“Drink Penny. Then talk.” that was Dr. Strange.   
She did and the cold water rushing down her throat was the best feeling ever.   
She opened her eyes fully and was greeted by the sight of May, Mr. Stark and D. Strange standing around her bed.   
“Home?” she asked, somewhat confused. This was not her room at the Kamar Taj.   
“Yes Penny, your back in New York. You’re at the Tower. Do you remember what happened?” Tony asked her concerned, leaning onto the rail at the foot of her bed.   
Of course she remembered. It was hard to forget the chaos one little stone could cause.   
“Arden?” she asked but she knew the answer.   
Dr. Strange shook his head. “There was nothing we could do.”   
She nodded.   
“Are you okay baby?” May asked, gently caressing her forehead.   
She turned her head and smiled at her aunt. “Missed you.” she muttered.   
“I missed you too. You have to tell me all about Nepal later.”   
“I will. I’m fine. Just tired.”   
“Understandably. You used quite a lot of magic to destroy that stone. Also you were briefly possessed by the spirit of a six hundred year old guru. That would knock anyone out.” Strange explained.   
Penny nodded. She remembered that only partly.   
“But it’s over now, right?” she asked.   
“Yes. Henderson is in SHIELD custody and will never bother anyone again. The stone is gone, so hopefully any other fanatics will now look for a new hobby.” the Sorcerer Supreme added.   
“That’s good.”   
“Go back to sleep kiddo. We’ll be here when you wake up.” Tony assured her, squeezing her foot gently.   
She nodded and was asleep a second later.   
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
A week had passed and Penny was still weak on her feet.   
Dr. Strange said it was because of all the magic she had used. Her body was not used to wielding such power. It had drained her.   
So he kept saying…  
She was sitting on the patio-deck of Stark Tower underneath an umbrella and overlooking the city she called home.   
Behind her the patio door slid open and to her surprise Mordo stepped through.   
She sat up, confused by his presence.  
He and Wong had gone back to Kamar Taj days ago she had thought.   
“Mordo?” she asked as he approached and too a seat opposite her on the lounge chair.   
“Hey Penny. How are you?”   
“Getting better every day.” She admitted.   
“That’s good to hear.”  
They sat in silence for a few minutes.   
“So…” she wondered, looking at him expectantly.   
“Right” he said and reached into his pocket “I… I got something for you. Not sure if you even want it but…well…I thought maybe…”  
He handed her a small object, wrapped in a silken cloth.   
She carefully unwrapped it and a sling ring fell out of it into her hand.   
The metal was cool and the delicate designs on top shimmered in the after-noon sun.   
She looked from the ring to him and back at the ring.   
“I don’t understand…” she whispered.   
“It was Arden’s. Technically speaking a sling ring has no great personal value to a sorcerer but…the first sling ring you ever get well…it’s still something special.”  
He hesitated, then leaned forward and lowered his voice.   
“I know Arden sensed great power in you. And I felt it too the second you set foot into Karma Taj. When you were still unconscious, I too read your soul. And Arden was right. There is a seemingly endless sea of power inside of you.”  
“But I used all that. Dr. Strange said I used it all.” She protested.   
Mordo shook his head. “No Penny. It’s true, the amount of power you released and used to destroy the stone…any normal sorcerer would never have been able to use magic again. But you…you haven’t even dipped into a percentage of what you could be capable of.”  
She set to protest but he held up his hand.   
“I know you don’t want to be a sorcerer; I know you are content with what you have going here and your work as Spider-Girl is invaluable. Yet I can’t help but think what else you could do. I’m not here to pressure you into anything, just…” he tapped the sling ring in her hand “Consider it. Remember Arden. She had her flaws, certainly, but…she was a good person in her soul.”  
“I know. She died for me.” Penny whispered, tears falling down her cheeks.   
“Yeah…But remember…that was her choice. And this right here is your choice.”  
She nodded.   
“Kamar Taj is always open to you Penny.” He promised and smiled.   
She smiled back at him.   
“Thank you for this. I will hold on to it.” She said, gesturing at the ring.   
He nodded, got up and walked towards the edge of the building.   
“See you around kid.” He called over his shoulder before opening a portal over the edge of the building and jumping straight into it.   
It closed behind him, leaving only small sparks dancing in the air and even they died away.   
“Show off.” She muttered.   
She picked up the sling ring.   
It was heavy in her palm.   
Carefully she slid it over her fingers.   
It hummed with energy.   
She took it off and re-wrapped it in the silk cloth.   
“Gone but not forgotten. I’ll keep your memory alive Arden. I will do everything I can to honour it. Just not this.” She whispered into the wind.


End file.
